Observations
by DeniseV
Summary: Ezra's always considered himself the most observant of men, but Vin is giving him a run for his money.


"Ah admit that Ah have rarely seen a sky more beautiful," Ezra Standish said as he and his horse maintained an easy, steady pace alongside his patrol partner. Four Corners' resident gambler had already been informed that the myriad colors they currently witnessed were a sign of approaching rain, but he certainly couldn't deny the stunning display before him.

"Seems like ya don't always 'ppreciate the handsome landscape out here," his fellow lawman Vin Tanner replied.

"Ah recognize that is the perception," Ezra replied as he looked over to the tracker. "Ah have, over the course of our employ by the judge, developed a fondness for the majesty of the mountains, the intensity and variety of a sunset … and a sunrise, witnessing the latter as rarely as possible." The tracker smiled, familiar with the former con man's preference to sleep as late into the day as he could push it without jeopardizing life and limb, otherwise known as Chris Larabee's ire. He looked to the distant mountains. "A fresh snowfall on a ragged rock face. There is splendor to be found even amongst this desolate desert environment."

"Didn't think you cared fer any of it, Ezra."

"Ah do. Ah also sometimes miss the lush green of Atlanta and Savannah in the spring, or the salt air misting in along the marshes in Charleston in the summer, or … well, the South of mah youth, before the war, was something quite different from the dusty, windy, often unforgiving surroundings we find ourselves in."

"I don't know, Ezra. I hear tell it's terrible hot and humid in all o' them cities. Don't sound very forgivin' if ya ask me."

"Touché, Vin. It is true. Atlanta, Savannah, Charleston, New Orleans; they are bettah visited outside of the summer months."

"You've lived a lotta places," the former bounty hunter said. As a bounty hunter, one would assume Vin Tanner had done his fair share of traveling, but as far as living, settled down, he could name just three towns that he'd spent long amounts of time in other than the town he currently called home.

"Many," Ezra replied but didn't elaborate. The two men on their trusted steeds continued on towards Four Corners proper. Today's patrol had taken them to the farthest eastern homesteads that were still considered part of the greater Four Corners area. The day started and remained chilly, the sun making short, infrequent appearances, providing pretty vistas every time it did. All of the folks they checked in on had offered them a hot beverage – or a strong one – or both. They were happy to partake in the hot coffee or tea they'd been offered, but chose to imbibe sparingly only from the card sharp's flask, understanding the necessity to keep sharp, just in case.

"How's things 'tween you 'n' Inez?" Vin asked. The chill air had turned icy cold in what seemed just a matter of minutes. Vin knew the cold could distract more than most weather, especially for Ezra who, though he'd spent time out in the high desert for some years now, had never really managed to get used to the surprising cold that could hit during winter and on either side of it. The man from Texas decided it was best to keep some conversation going until they could get home and inside out of the weather. The ground was soft from the snow melt, but it was getting colder as the minutes passed.

"We are fine," was the reply. It was an answer that didn't give the observant tracker much insight, and seemed as cold in the delivery as the chill early March air. Plus, fine rarely really _meant_ fine where Ezra was concerned.

"You two been datin' now goin' on six months."

"Ah would not classify what Inez and Ah … well, dating seems both not sufficient to describe our relationship and an exaggeration of it at the same time."

Vin reached down from his saddle and pulled a tall blade of grass from the ground. He broke off the small bit of root and much of the stem and placed the remainder in his mouth. "Don't see how that's possible," he said as he bit down on the dry reed.

"Ah can see why you would not understand. Ah, too, find the situation perplexin'."

"You need to talk about it?"

"Ah don't know, Vin. Ah surmise that Ah've been alone too long. Despite the many positive benefits of having a woman so beguiling as Inez Rocios in mah life … in mah bed, Ah do not see mahself evah marryin'."

"You think she's lookin' fer that right now?"

"Ah don't know. Ah know that she wants children someday." The gambler shook his head as they neared the fork that would take them back to town. Vin noted that the sky had darkened, a storm threatening. It was obvious that his friend was distracted and disturbed when he didn't notice the probability that they would be stuck in precipitation. Vin wasn't sure whether the temperature would ultimately bring rain or snow. Snow seemed more likely, but it was never a guarantee in the unpredictable climate of the southwest.

"Yer so good with kids. You 'n' Inez would have handsome little ones," Vin observed.

"Ah … it does not seem … ." Whatever Ezra was trying to say, he was having a hard time getting it out. Vin Tanner was as observant a man as they came. He was fairly certain of what Ezra was thinking.

"You'd make a good daddy, Ez."

Fat, infrequent raindrops suddenly started falling from the angry sky. But fat raindrops seldom remained infrequent but acted as a warning of a heavy downpour soon to follow.

"Ezra, let's head on back … "

"To the abandoned Brown homestead," Ezra confirmed the tracker's thinking. He had Chaucer turned around in no time and at a careful gallop back about a quarter of a mile. They would need to head another nearly half a mile south to get to the dilapidated house and tiny barn that made up the small parcel of land that Elmer Brown, his wife Martha and his two sons Edwin and Martin had tried to farm. The abundant spring that was seen on the property, with the flowing creek farther down the hill, turned out to be only a springtime occurrence. They were warned by any number of people, but could not be convinced that all that water there in March wouldn't be there in July. The family left the two room shack and the glorified lean-to of a barn less than a year after moving in and headed back to the milder climate of their native Virginia.

The two lawmen made excellent time and managed to get to shelter just a few short minutes after the heavy rain started.

"Think we should stay out here with the horses?" Vin asked as he loosened the cinch and grabbed a dirty shirt from his saddlebag and wiped the worst of the wet from Peso's coat.

"No," Ezra said as he mimicked the actions of the former buffalo hunter with his own horse. "If we stay in the house we can start a fire and get our outer clothing dried off quickly."

"We're gonna get wetter headin' over there, and there ain't no tellin' if birds or other critters have that chimney blocked."

"If Ah recall correctly, Josiah had assisted Mistah Brown with securin' the chimney to prevent just such an occurrence." Vin smiled. It figures that Ezra would know that. Anywhere there were children, his friend made a point of knowing as much as possible about the area in which they lived and the safety of the homes. He would be the first, quite often these days, of enlisting members of The Seven to help with repairs. The poker player, to this day, managed more supervising than laboring.

"There could be water in the well fer us to make some coffee," Vin noted.

"For _me_ to make some coffee," Ezra corrected his companion. "The art of brewin' a decent pot of coffee has been lost on you, suh."

"Go ahead and make more work for yourself, Ezra. Don't bother me none."

"That is, of course, the problem. Makin' undrinkable coffee _'don't bother you none'_," the southerner said in his best Vin Tanner Texas twang.

"You 'bout finished there?"

"Ah am indeed," Ezra answered. He looked around the lean-to carefully, finding an old, folded-up tarpaulin. "Well, well. Maybe we can avoid gettin' more drenched."

"Sher 'nough. We can both fit under there."

Ezra gave his horse one more rub behind the ear and then the two men grabbed their saddlebags, their bedrolls, positioned the heavy canvas over their heads and ran for the house.

* * *

"I wouldn't want to be Vin right about now," Buck Wilmington said as he took a swig from his mug of beer, watching the drenching rain through the window of the saloon.

"Can't disagree with you, brother," Josiah Sanchez replied. He took a sip from his whiskey and nodded to the pouring rain. He lifted his shot glass and said, "Better him than me," as salute to the easy-going Texan.

"I dunno. Last few times I lit out with Ezra, we didn't have any problems," the youngest of the seven lawmen of the small western town, J.D. Dunne, said.

"That's because you didn't get rained or snowed on, or stuck with no shelter in the burning sun or the freezing cold," Buck reminded his best friend. Buck and J.D., though by age were separated by a fair number of years, had grown to be as close as brothers. It hadn't taken long from their first meeting for that rapport to develop. Now, some three years later, their outlandish antics were well-known throughout the town and brought smiles to the faces of many residents who had come to care for all seven of the peacekeepers who somehow, thankfully, still chose to call the growing frontier town home.

"Well, that's true," the young man admitted.

"So?" the preacher asked as he continued to nurse his whiskey.

"I guess I wouldn't want to be Vin today, either." J.D. took a swig from his beer and asked, "Where are Chris and Nathan?" Only an hour had passed since the easterner returned from two days with Casey Wells at Nettie's ranch.

"Chris left for his cabin this mornin', before the rain," Buck explained.

"And Nate's takin' advantage of the quiet to read some of those medical journals that Ezra got him for Christmas," Josiah said. The big man looked out the window. It was now quite dark with the advance of the thick rain clouds. "He'll have to call it a day if he don't want to damage his eyes. He'd need five lamps for proper light for reading, 'cept he'd be passed out from the fumes after readin' a page or two."

"Ezra always comes up with the perfect gifts, don't he?" J.D. asked. Buck raised his eyebrow at his friend, who added, "Yeah, yeah. But once he started to exchange gifts, he's real good at it. He got me that nice cleaning kit for my guns."

"Gave Chris that knife set with the ivory handles with those animals carved in 'em," Buck reminisced. The town's famous Lothrio knew his old friend well and could see that the former gunslinger was moved by the gift.

"Said Chris needed something to occupy his time now that the town was quieter and he and Mary … " Josiah noted, with no need to finish the thought. It seemed more likely as the days went on that Chris was thinking about asking the beautiful newspaper publisher and town leader Mary Travis to marry him. But until that time, Ezra decided that Chris needed a hobby. He was already an accomplished whittler, but this knife set would open up all kinds of creativity in the leader of their group.

"Got you that nice tie with the pretty silver pin," J.D. said.

"It ain't a pin, kid. It's, uh, ornamental … "

"Ornamental jewelry?" J.D joked.

"It ain't that, either," Buck challenged.

"What's it matter whether you call it jewelry or a pin. Don't think namin' it that's gonna have any effect on your animal magnetism either way."

"Is that right?" Buck asked as he grabbed J.D.'s hat and easily kept it away from the smaller man's shorter reach.

"He is a thoughtful man," Josiah said as he swiped the hat from Buck's hand and handed back to its owner, "even if he don't want people thinkin' it." The preacher remembered how Ezra had come to him Christmas eve and reached out to him with the gift in his hand. It was wrapped handsomely in a piece of fabric decorated with snow-covered pine trees, a deep blue night sky and a lone, bright star. The cloth was kept in place by a piece of twine tied into several flowing bows. Josiah still kept the cloth in amongst other treasured objects. Ezra would not admit that the cloth held any religious affiliation, but the man who resided most of his nights at the church felt certain that it did. It was a gift that in every way was intended to please the recipient, and it had done. Josiah's heart felt full every time he thought of it, which is why he kept what it came wrapped in as a physical reminder.

"Josiah!" J.D. called.

"Yeah," the big man answered, realizing he'd been caught daydreaming.

"What did Ezra get you?"

"I don't remember what he got you either, Josiah," Buck admitted.

"That's because I didn't get a physical gift from Brother Ezra."

"He didn't get you a Christmas present this year, preacher?"

"That ain't what he said, kid."

"That's right, Buck. Ezra got me something. It was very generous, like everyone else's, and boundlessly thoughtful."

"What was it?" Buck and J.D. asked at the same time.

"It ain't my place ta say." Josiah stood, took his glass of whiskey and headed outside to wait on the boardwalk for the healer Nathan Jackson's arrival. He was protected from the worst of the rain by the overhang that he and Vin, under Ezra's supervision, recently reinforced and re-roofed.

"Whaddya suppose it could o' been?" J.D. asked as he finished his beer.

"I got an inkling but, like Josiah says, it's between them. Reckon we'll never know for sure. It's been a few months since Christmas. Figure we'd know by now if they wanted us to."

"I guess you're right," the man from Boston replied. His stomach chose that moment to growl its need for food. "I'm starving," he said, a little embarrassed, as he put his hand to his grumbling tummy.

"I could eat. Think you can wait 'til Nate gets here?"

"Oh, I dunno know, Buck," J.D. said as sarcastically as J.D. Dunne ever could with his friends.

"You think yer funny?" the ladies' man asked as he rose quickly from his chair, grabbed his friend's ridiculous hat once more and ran past the bar and toward the rear part of the building, J.D. following fast on his heels.

* * *

"Strange kind o' rain for this time o' year," Vin said to his strangely silent friend.

"Yes."

"Usually still snow in early March."

"Indeed."

"Been kind o' windy this last month. That don't normally happen 'til later in the spring."

"True."

'_What the hell?'_ Vin thought, then said, "With this strange weather, wouldn't be surprised if it rained locusts next."

Ezra raised his head and gave his friend a lopsided grin. He raised his eyebrows next and said, "You are hinting that Ah might not be so completely enthralling a conversationalist that you would bring the sensational into our little chat?"

"Weren't really a chat 'til just now. 'sides, jus' remembered you were interested in 'siah's crows. Thought maybe I'd git yer attention by mentionin' other critters."

"A Biblical reference, at that. How appropriate." Vin shrugged his shoulder. Ezra lowered his head toward the floor.

"Tell me 'bout Inez," the man from Texas said.

The southerner nodded his head and then looked up at his friend. "Ah fear Ah may have done somethin' that Ah swore Ah would nevah do. That Ah have … ." He stopped, his voice breaking.

"Mostly likely be best if ya gist said it."

Ezra watched the flames in the wood stove. They held a calming effect, and Ezra needed calm in order to get through this confessional.

"Ah nevah meant to lead her on. It is why Ah took so long to … allow mahself to … ." Again, a long pause from the former con man, so long that Vin finished the thought for his tortured friend, who was fascinated once more by the rough, wide-plank floor of the rustic dwelling.

"Ta fall in love."

Ezra nodded his head. "God forgive me, Vin," he said as he raised his eyes, pooled with tears. "Ah love her, but Ah cannot continue to love her. She wants children. Ah do not trust mahself to be heah for her, for a family. It would not be right."

Vin watched his partner in law enforcement. His friend. There was no one who understood better the uncertainties of life in the west than Vin Tanner. He was a wanted man for a very long time. He would never have allowed a relationship to flourish while there was a price on his head. Even what happened with Charlotte Richmond would eventually not have withstood that pressure. It was just as well that things back then turned out as they did. But things were different now. His name had been cleared, and the man sitting before him was a major reason for that. He needed to help Ezra find a way to remain with Inez, or at least find a way to relieve the man of the guilt he currently suffered if he couldn't.

As he watched Ezra wipe the drying tears from his cheeks, Vin wondered exactly how much of his concerns he had admitted to Inez. The beautiful Mexican woman and Ezra seemed a perfect match. They'd developed a deep friendship well before they began their more intimate relationship. Vin was trained to observe, as much people as the evidence he found on the trail. What he felt more than anything was that Ezra and Inez needed to talk. That they might go their separate ways when it was not certain that they really had to just tore the tracker up inside. He could only imagine what Ezra was going through, except that he didn't have to. He could feel Ezra's pain at this moment as though it was his own.

"You need ta talk to her before you make that final decision."

"We have ta … "

"No ya ain't. I'm sher you've talked around it. Before you decide for her what's best for her, you need ta tell her how ya feel. 'spect ya ain't told her ya don't want kids." Ezra stared at the floor. "An' I think ya ain't told 'er 'cause what ya think and what ya want don't seem ta work together."

The card sharp raised his head and asked, "What do you mean?" as he wiped the last remnants of tears from his face. Lord his mother would be disappointed with him. Bearing his soul. Crying. Con man? No longer.

"You want kids."

"Vin, Ah have said … "

"I heard what ya said."

Ezra sighed and remembered he was a gentleman when he said firmly, "Ah am in no mood for games, Mistah Tanner." Vin knew he'd hit a nerve when the southerner reverted back to the less familiar form of address. He'd gotten used to Ezra calling him by his given name. He liked it, and he liked that it had become second nature to his friend. It seemed to roll easily off the accented tongue. It felt good to hear, warm. It felt like friendship. It seemed that Ezra was not planning to be friendly, though, as he put on the poker face that Vin hated so. A wall had been erected in just seconds; Vin hoped it wasn't an impenetrable one.

"It ain't a game, Ezra. No man can be like you are with kids and not want some o' yer own. Hell, you've helped _raise_ a bunch o' these young'ns' 'round here. The ones missin' a pa … or a ma." That was something Vin Tanner knew a lot about.

"Vin, Ah understand you wish to help, and Ah am grateful that you would try. But even you must realize that our lives … there are no guarantees."

"Ez, there ain't no guarantee that ya won't get bit by a rattler and die out on patrol, or get struck by lightnin', or that the two of us won't be gunned down by some bounty hunter who ain't learned that Ah been cleared."

Ezra stood from his chair and stormed to the far side of the cabin, kicking up a year's worth of long-settled dust as he did so. He turned back toward Vin and yelled, "Ah am tryin' to avoid bringin' more pain to a woman who suffered a great deal before stumblin' upon our dusty town."

"Yer afraid o' hurtin' her."

"Ah just said that."

"Yeah, I know you said that, but it sounds more like yer gist afraid to hurt yourself." Ezra stood in place and stared at his friend. He continued to look Vin in the eye, but did not open his mouth. The Texan decided he would push a little harder. One of two things could happen: Ezra would answer honestly, or the man would push farther away. Vin knew that, either way, until the rain stopped, he would be able to keep trying.

And that it could get bloody.

"Sounds ta me like Inez ain't worth fightin' for."

Ezra snorted a laugh and walked over to re-take his seat. "That is ridiculous," he said as he stopped at the coffee pot at the stove. He poured himself some more and then lifted the pot as question to Vin. The former bounty hunter stood and reached his mug toward Ezra, who filled it with the flavorful dark roasted coffee that the gambler preferred and always had stowed in his saddlebags. They both took their seats. Minutes went by, and finally Vin spoke again.

"Can't really be love."

"Ah beg your pardon?" Ezra spoke calmly, but everything about him – stiff posture, the blaze of anger in his eyes – proved the exact opposite.

"I think you must be tired of her and want to get out o' what ya got yerself into."

"That is a disgusting … "

"I'm gist tellin' it as I see it. Sher 'nough tellin' a woman ya don't want ta have babies with 'er … prob'ly send her scurryin' out o' town. You get ta stay, have a place to keep playin' cards."

"Vin," Ezra growled in warning.

"That frees her ta go find someone else ta give 'er babies," Vin pressed on.

"Ah would suggest that now would be a good time to put that mug down."

"'Course, lettin' 'er go like that would prove yer a chicken shit. Best not ta pass that trait on to another generation."

Vin knew it was coming, but that didn't ease the pain of the punch that Ezra landed to the former bounty hunter's cheek. The force picked him from his chair and knocked him to the ground. The delicious cup of coffee flew from his hand, the mug clattering loudly as it hit the wall, the wall and the window beside it that miraculously still had glass solidly in place, both painted with the dark liquid.

Ezra stood after throwing the punch, breathing heavily. And then he started to pace, to the far side of the room and then back and then away from Vin as he sat holding his face on the floor. Blood oozed from, at minimum, a split lip. The southerner seethed with anger, confusion … pain. He turned, looking for a place to go that would take him farther away from what he'd done here, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide from this less-than-stellar behavior. He returned to stand before his friend.

"God damn it, Vin," he said as he offered his hand to the injured man. Vin reached his hand that was not awash with blood. He was soon seated with Ezra wiping away the blood and checking the damage.

"It's all right."

"It is most certainly not _all right_, Vin. Ah do apologize … "

"Don't have to. I deserve it. I was hopin' … "

"That Ah would come to mah senses?"

Vin grinned, though it clearly pained him to do so. "Wasn't exactly goin' fer a miracle."

Ezra smiled sadly. "Ah would hope for one just now."

Vin touched his cheek and then felt where the lip had split. Damned if Ezra Standish couldn't fight. It was a good thing he chose to fight for _their_ side.

"I think you're sellin' yerself short, Ez." Ezra sighed, though it sounded to Vin's ears pretty near a sob. "Ya been in Four Corners for over three years now. Yer still teachin' the kids, yer helpin' most o' the businesses with their books, ya got friends, and not just the six of us. Why do ya think ya can't make a life with Inez? Ya made a commitment to us, to this town."

Ezra sent pleading, not angry, eyes to his friend this time as he brought a cloth wetted with the cold water from the still-functioning well. "Because it is what Ah do. Ah do not stay. Ah run … "

"Fuck, Ezra! Ya don't. Yer here. Yer headin' into yer fourth year _here_."

"Mah history says that Ah am due to go."

"You ain't yer ma, Ez. Maybe it's time to change yer history."

"Perhaps. But perhaps it is also true what Mistah Larabee has said. Ah ran out once. Ah … "

"Jesus. You two. Damn if I don't want ta lock ya both up together for a week."

"Ah assure you that upon your return to check on our welfare, one of us would most likely be dead."

"I don't think so. I think you'd both be damned bloody, but I think you'd both learn a thing or two about each other. It'd be about time," Vin said as he held the soothing rag to his face once more.

"Your optimism is inspirin'," Ezra said tiredly and with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

"Ain't had much need fer optimism 'til I met you fellers. But I got it now and I'm tellin' you that Inez is fer you. We all been watchin' you two."

"Have you?" the former con man asked, still obviously disturbed by his violent actions earlier.

"Yep. Got a bet goin', too."

"You have?"

"Yep."

"Pray tell, what is the bet?"

"That you 'n' Inez would marry first."

"First? As in … "

"Before J.D., Nathan or Chris." Vin saw it in Ezra's face as he began to think about the bet, his expression changing ever so slightly as he made his way through the numbers, figuring the odds. "A bet ain't no reason ta marry a woman, Ez."

"There are worse reasons, mah friend, such as at the end of the barrel of a shotgun."

"Can't deny that," Vin said with a shudder and a grin. More seriously, the Texan said, "Ya need ta talk to Inez. Ya need ta tell her everything. It's the only fair thing to do, and the only right thing, too."

"Yes, you are correct, on both counts. You are a good friend, Vin. And a wise man."

"Not wise 'nough to avoid this," the tracker said, indicating his abused face.

"Yes, well, once Mistah Larabee sees that, Ah will likely be sportin' a matching bruise."

"Then I guess the pain was worth it."

* * *

Buck and Josiah whistled in harmony at the impressive bruise.

"What happened to you?" Chris asked.

Vin and Ezra spent the remainder of the day and the overnight hours holed up in the surprisingly leak-free cabin. It was well after ten in the morning when they finally showed up; the rarely used, mud-slick path from the Brown's house to the main trail made for slow going.

"Nothin'."

"Don't look like nothin' to me," Nathan said. "Let me take a look." The healer did so before getting the go ahead from the injured party.

"Did you and Brother Ezra settle whatever it was that caused that?" Josiah asked. They all knew that Josiah held the gambler dear to him, especially after the unfortunate circumstances that precipitated the card sharp nearly leaving town during the territorial governor's ill-fated visit. They all hoped that Vin's reply was what Josiah was looking for.

"Yep."

"Do I need to talk to him?" Chris asked calmly. The day and night spent at his own cabin seemed to have soothed the former notorious gunslinger. All of those who knew that Chris had headed out to his place were grateful. He had become less than pleasant to spend time with over the course of the previous week. It seemed Vin Tanner's work was never done. He'd have to concentrate on Chris next.

"Nope." They could all see Ezra speaking with Inez at the bar.

"Is he all right?" J.D. asked as he held his mug of milk, then took a huge swig, leaving himself with a milk moustache over his sparsely-growing real one. They watched as Ezra squeezed Inez' hand, left her to her work, and then walked toward their table.

"Gentlemen, Ah am sure that Mistah Tanner has told you of our … disagreement."

"He ain't told us much, hoss," Buck answered for them all.

"You all right?" Chris asked. He watched as the look of relief the gambler had shared with the tracker changed to one of Ezra's more inscrutable ones. Little did the leader of The Seven know what had caused the change: those three simple words sent a wave of warmth through the southerner, the effect much like taking a long pull on a glass of the finest French cognac. He saw Vin smile. Ezra smiled, too.

"Ah am bettah, thanks to Vin. And now Ah shall secure a change of clothes and head to the bathhouse."

"And then to your featherbed?" Vin asked, thinking that Inez might just join him there.

"Actually, no. Señorita Rocios and Ah have other plans." Vin turned to see Inez carrying a picnic basket back to the kitchen.

Vin and Ezra shared a knowing look with one another, and then Ezra took to the staircase, showing his normal elegant stride to all of his friends save Vin, who saw an extra spring in his step that the others likely missed. He didn't see in those steps whether Ezra had made a decision to tell Inez everything, but what he saw as he watched the two of them together at the bar was definitely love. That was something the two could not hide. You didn't need to be especially observant to see that.

The End.


End file.
